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How To Get 63% of Americans to Support the Freedom to Marry. (Maybe.)

FiveThirtyEightJune 11, 2009When marriage equality is polled, it is almost always framed as a positive right, as in: "Should the government permit same sex couples to get married?" But there is a different way to frame the question that is no less fair, and flips the issue on its head. Namely: "Should the government be allowed to prohibit same sex couples from getting married?" This is closer to the logic embodied by the court decisions in Iowa, California, Massachusetts, and other states, and to the Marriage Resolution framed by Freedom to Marry:

Because marriage is a basic human right and an individual choice, RESOLVED, the state should not interfere with same-gender couples who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities, and commitment of civil marriage.